Hypothetical Question - What would society be like if there were no consequences?

What kind of a society (sans a god) do you think we would have if everyone believed they were born bad,couldn't help but to do bad--but that it didn't matter because they would never get thrown in jail.

In my opinion--it would be and IS chaos, but it IS chaos due to the influence of Christianity which holds to the above meta theory. (sin, repent, sin, repent--repeat when necessary without consequence)

So what is your view of a society that could do whatever they wanted to without consequences.

Replies to This Discussion

But wouldn't the Eskimo be guilty of original sin prior to being introduced to Yahweh? Does that mean that some sins aren't sins at all? This is all very confusing. Maybe Cathy Cooper can enlighten us.

To Unseen--Yes, that is also true according to what many Christians believe. This would mean that babies who had been born and died before baptism would go to hell too. However, even Augustine and Calvin couldn't figure it out because one claimed all of them would be damned to hell, while the other claimed babies would reside in the arms of Jesus.

This is what happens when a religion is confusing, contradictory, illogical, and so many of them believe different things.

This question was posed by Plato with his story, in The Republic, of The Ring of Geiges. Geiges came upon a ring which, when turned on his finger, made him invisible. Plato used this to discuss why one should do The Good.

His answer was that even though you could escape discovery, capture, and direct consequences, using the ring, as when you tell lies, makes you alone in the world.

People who find themselves carrying big secrets suffer this consequence.

Yes, but I am putting it in the context of Christianity--where they do not even have to be invisible to be bad--because they believe they were born that way and the are expected to behave that way. Hence, we have a society full of Christians doing abominable things from murder to child molestation--thinking they will still receive "salvation" as long as they repent, and believe. There are no consequences for Christians in this scenario, and that is what I find so abominable.

Speaking as an ex-Christian, while confession may relieve one of sin in the sense that it won't keep one from entering the Kingdom of Heaven, it doesn't relieve one of whatever guilt one may feel because one knows in one's heart that whatever harm one did continues to resonate past the act of confession and the absolution so obtained.

Your depiction is rather overly simplified. While you might murder someone and while you might confess to God and ask forgiveness, you still have to live your life knowing what you did and perhaps having to face up to the negative consequences you imposed on others.

No, my depiction is not over simplified at all. What I stated is the view of almost all Christians. In the Christian view, there are NO consequences for the perpetrator, and no justice for the victims. The ONLY justice for victims of Christian crimes comes from the secular system--not their god. As long as they love god and ask him to forgive them--they get off scott free. Again--an abominable system.

No, it is a howlingly broad and awesomely unfair depiction, and the trouble with that is that the many Christians who are basically good people who believe in a nonexistent God won't see themselves in it. They'll see how far you are from the mark and you'll leave a bad impression of atheists.

When I was a Christian and I did something selfish or unkind, confession did NOTHING to assuage that guilt. I felt it made me right with God. I did not think it undid my bad behavior and I still felt a need to apologize, or make good to whatever extent I might, the harm I'd done.

There may be a few who feel that way, but they are simply not good people from the start.